Five Key Trends Shaping the EdTech Market in 2030

Whether it’s high school students entering the next chapter of their education or adult learners retooling their skills for a career transition, edtech is increasingly becoming a vital part of their journey.‍‍‍‍

Image source:Reuters/Navesh Chitrakar

Malvika Bhagwat

Owl Ventures Partner and Head of Performance

Over the next decade, global education spending will reach $10 trillion.
As a vibrant, fast-growing segment within the broader education economy, edtech will play a pivotal role in this market.
As artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge technologies continue to evolve, edtech will also keep advancing. Five key trends are currently shaping the industry.

As the digital revolution accelerates, edtech will leave an indelible mark on lives and economies worldwide.

From addressing labor shortages to boosting the focus on mental health in education, technology is transforming and empowering education systems worldwide. At the same time, this trend is impacting learners of all ages—whether it’s young children just starting their educational journey or adult learners seeking to enhance their future career prospects and professional skills.

Over the next 10 years, the world will see 800 million high school graduates and 350 million college graduates; by 2030, global education spending is expected to reach $10 trillion. In the rapidly evolving global education ecosystem, edtech will play a pivotal role.

Five Emerging Trends in the EdTech Sector

As the industry evolves, five key trends have emerged. These trends are already reshaping edtech and the education sector—and will continue to impact hundreds of millions of people worldwide in the years ahead.

1. Skill Enhancement: Training the Workforce of Tomorrow

The rise of automation, artificial intelligence, and digitalization is unstoppable, fundamentally reshaping the job market. As a result, enhancing workforce skills and investing in retraining have become urgent priorities. The OECD highlights that, over the next decade, nearly 1 billion jobs worldwide will undergo significant transformations due to technological advancements.

Public opinion often highlights the shortcomings of traditional higher education, underscoring the need for convenient and flexible learning solutions. As demand surges across all levels of the job market, edtech companies like Degreed, Interplay Learning, and Workera are emerging as crucial partners in helping individuals thrive in today’s rapidly evolving employment landscape.

Meanwhile, leveraging edtech platforms to upskill and adapt to the evolving job market is likely to remain a trend for the foreseeable future.

2. Artificial Intelligence: Revolutionizing the Learning Experience

Artificial intelligence is ushering in a new era of education, delivering personalized and highly effective learning experiences. AI in the education market is rapidly advancing—by 2028, the global sector is projected to grow by approximately $21 billion.

Almost all edtech companies are implementing artificial intelligence, which will profoundly impact business models and learners. Innovative solutions like Amira Learning, Sizzle AI, and Workera AI are market leaders in leveraging AI to deliver personalized 1:1 support, enhance skills intelligence, and boost productivity—revolutionizing education in the process.

3. Talent Attraction: Recruiting New Talent for EdTech

Digitalization and artificial intelligence have unlocked top talent in the edtech sector. Prominent professionals from tech giants, recognizing the immense potential of this market, have increasingly ventured to launch their own edtech companies. For instance, entrepreneurs like Rajen from Kyron, Jerome Pesenti from Sizzle, and Eran Megiddo of Maximal Learning bring with them deep, proven expertise—perfectly positioned to seize opportunities and drive groundbreaking innovation in the edtech space.

4. Mental Health: Shaping Well-Being

As the world gradually recovers from the pandemic's impact, there’s a growing emphasis on boosting mental health support within education systems. Shocking data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System further underscore the urgency of this issue. Organizations like Hazel Health, Panorama Education, Thrive Global, and Woebot are leading the charge in this field, consistently working to address the psychological and social-emotional challenges faced by K-12 students—and helping people lead healthier, happier lives.

5. Results-First: Prioritize measuring impact

In the edtech sector, prioritizing impact and outcomes is crucial, as it directly determines a company’s ability to sustain operations while driving effective education. Without reliable outcome data, it becomes impossible to determine what ultimately works best for users.

In K-12 education, school districts annually attempt an average of up to 2,591 edtech tools due to the lack of data on product implementation and outcomes—efforts that are also hindering progress in addressing ongoing and pandemic-induced learning losses. Similarly, in workforce training, the U.S. had already spent $101.8 billion by 2023. Yet, in today’s job market, millions of positions remain unfilled, while many more roles require workers to upgrade their skills. As a result, understanding the impact of these investments is critical.

Measuring the Impact of EdTech

Prioritize impact and outcomes forEstablishing a lasting presence in the education industry and other sectors is crucial. Owl Ventures, the world's largest edtech venture capital fund, outlines three key dimensions for measuring success: scale and accessibility, diversity, and impact.

1. Scale and Accessibility

Edtech companies must deeply understand their customer base and develop products that can reach across diverse communities. Typically, this depends heavily on the specific learner groups the company targets.

For instance, for companies partnering with schools and local communities, key factors include the percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, as well as metrics like English learners. Meanwhile, customer-facing businesses typically focus on tracking engagement through parameters such as the number of parents and community members they serve, geographic location, product pricing, and the accessibility of their equipment.

In regions outside the United States, factors such as household income, geographic location, or religion may play a more significant role. Therefore, companies must report data related to urban and rural populations, as well as income levels.Data on level, gender, and age range.

2. Promote diversity

Companies that embrace gender, racial, and ethnic diversity are 36% more likely to outperform the industry median. Diverse teams consistently demonstrate superior decision-making capabilities, underscoring the critical importance of inclusivity.

It is crucial that companies in the education sector conduct annual diversity surveys to promptly track key metrics such as gender, race, pay equity, and employee retention across all leadership levels—ensuring that the diversity of the communities they serve is reflected in the company’s organizational structure.

3. Tailored Outcomes

Recognizing that each edtech company addresses unique challenges in the education sector, identifying and measuring specific outcomes aligned with their product goals is a worthwhile endeavor for both the companies and their stakeholders.

For instance, in the Pre-K-12 sector (from early childhood education to high school graduation), measuring impact may involve a range of factors—such as student performance on standardized tests to the development of social-emotional skills—thus highlighting the diverse outcomes in this field. In higher education and career mobility functions, metrics like graduation rates, scholarship awards, and employment placement numbers are also more directly tied to tracking meaningful results.

At its core, the future of edtech and high-quality education hinges on answering one fundamental question for edtech companies: Does this solution deliver positive outcomes for its target users?

The above content solely represents the author's personal views.This article is translated from the World Economic Forum's Agenda blog; the Chinese version is for reference purposes only.Feel free to share this on WeChat Moments; please leave a comment below the post if you’d like to republish.

Translated by: Wu Yimeng | Edited by: Wang Can

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